Kabul- Former President Hamid Karzai is angry on Pervez Musharaf’s remarks about a proxy war between Pakistan and India in Afghanistan once the NATO-led combat forces leaves the country.
Musharraf had warned earlier this week that Pakistan and India could enter into a proxy war amid growing influence by New Delhi in Afghanistan.
Musharraf claimed that the Indian involvement there has an anti-Pakistan connotation. He added that India wants to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan.
However, Karzai said that neither Afghanistan nor India would allow a proxy war between Pakistan and India. In reaction to Musharraf’s remarks that Pakistan will use the support of Pashtuns in a bid to maintain its influence in Afghanistan, Karzai said any suggestion that Pashtuns would do Pakistan’s bidding was “hurtful” and an insult to Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group. Karzai called the remarks as unfortunate and said “Afghanistan has a history of 5,000 years, saying that Pashtuns will be used as a tool is insulting to Pashtuns, insulting to the people of Afghanistan.” The remarks by Musharaf come after the US Department of Defense (DoD) said Pakistan is using ‘proxy forces’ to carry out attacks in Afghanistan and India. In a report released on earlier this month, the US Department of Defense said the militant groups focused on Afghanistan and India continue to operate from Pakistan territory, accusing Islamabad for providing “sanctuary” to militants of the Haqqani network, a group reportedly considered by Pakistan to be part of a moderate faction of the Taliban.